How to (re) build a kakelugn in English and Swedish and finally how to light one (in Swedish) http://www.dataphone.se/~ncteknik/Kakelugnar_Elda.htmlAfterthought - might be wise to get it checked by sotan (sotaren) before use ! (9 § En eldstad och en rökkanal som inte använts under tre år skall kontrolleras innan den tas i bruk.)

I will assume the chimney above kakelung is clean, not blocked with bird's nests. The kakelung should also be clean ideally. There is normally 3 metal covers of about 10cm in diameter, one on top and two on bottom sides. Look in these and clean out best you can and close. Open main upper vent. This is the metal rod top side. Open is rod out, Cycle this rod back and forth to make sure it moves freely. Leave full out and open. Open kakelung doors and place a page or three of newspapers in and light. You are testing draft. Close black metal inner doors and open the small door vents, they are about 3cm in diameter. You should get a roaring intense fire from the paper. Hopefully all is well at this point. You should always be careful and have a small fire for first day or two. Place paper, more this time and small amount of wood in kakelung. Wood is best placed vertically until fire is established and paper fore and aft. Light as before, close black metal doors small 3cm vents open. Always lock these doors with the metal latch, just a good safety habit. Fire should light easily. Add more wood until fire is well established. Now you can close small 3cm vents. Run fire for about one hour upper vent rod full open. Keep fire relatively small first few days. Upper vent rod can be closed some. this controls the rate of burning. close to half way. This position is probably good for most operations. IMPORTANT! Never close this vent when there is any combustion in kakelung! If fire dies down but active red coals remain closing this vent rod can be deadly! You will not smell smoke and the carbon monoxide will kill you. At the end of the burning session reach in the fire box and feel there is no fire and close vent to keep heat in kakelung. I build fires in mine during the day and have all fires out before going to sleep. Not safe to have fires while asleep. After a few days of close attention and practice you can have an all day active and intense fire and lots of warmth. Outer kakalung doors are only closed when above vent is closed to keep in heat. good luck.

Like Johnjohn said: be careful in starting to use the kakelugn in autumn. A kakelugn can crack if you heat it too fast. So small fires for the first few days. When the kakelugn is warm you only have to have two fires a day when you almost fill up the firechamber completely. In autumn or spring sometimes one fire a day is sufficient. Just check the temperature of the tiles before you start to fire. If they are still quite warm use less wood or don't light the fire.

I asked a swedish neighbour how hot a kakelugn can be at the outside without it being damaged: mine was about 40-45 degerees celsius and that was OK according to him.

Bear in mind the tip about the sotare: old houses may not be completely stable, so often the connection between the wall and the backside of the kakelugn is cracked. This could cause leakage of smoke and therefore potential dangerous situations. A sotare checks this for you.

Also, what you want is a CO-alarm, and that you don't put on the cieling, but close to the floor, CO is heavier than air, so by the time it hits the cieling you're all dead already. Or then get a canary.

Kakelugn, the big "plate" is to control the exit to the chimney. You want it full open when you burn, and you can close it off to avoid the heat escaping ONLY when everything is burnt, usually people close off the vent too early with coal embers and get carbon monoxide poisoning. Not so evident when you have old drafty windows, but with modern double glazing and no draft you can kill off the canary and the cat before noticing.

Kakelugn is the Swedish entry for Darwin awards. Don't get monoxicated!

Very good advice with the CO detectors. I installed one and was surprised that it did go off occasionally. Thus never burn at night. I would heat the house nicely and before bed open the door letting in fresh air. The incoming cold air is quickly heated by the warm house and hardly affects the temperature. Nice to know the probably of waking in the morning is pretty good.

Cracking the ugn or the chimney is a valid concern. Small fires is a very recommendable start, but fairly enough, even if you burn a few aftonbladets in the flu holes to get the draft going, you will still be battling with a cold moist pipe, very unforgiving in a low pressure. One trick to avoid smoking up the place is to use one of those indoor car heater blowers to get some warm air into the flues before you start firing up. You know when you have a draft when the burning paper is sucked into the chimney... kakelugn isn't half as desperate as one of those old bakugns with a stovetop to puff the smoke back in, but kakelugns are usually in far more fancy rooms so smoke and soot isn't quite as pictoresque as on plain brick hearths in a cabin.